Mommy Petunia and babies are welcomed home!

You may have seen the video of my mommy, Petunia, in labor at Austin Animal Center (AAC). Good news is our family is now happily moved in the Maternity Ward at APA. On Friday she gave birth to me and my beautiful 5 brothers and sisters, and we have settled into this safe haven over the weekend with no problem.

This place is a sanctuary! The light pink walls and classical music is soothing and peaceful. The ward is indoor and away from all the noise and commotion outside. It has two private condos and every once in awhile I can hear my next door neighbor and her puppies. I can’t help but feel special in here.

The Maternity Ward was created in order to immediately save a pregnant or nursing mom and her babies at a moment’s notice. Pregnant moms and their families are two groups at high risk at AAC because we (the babies) are not ready for adoption until we are eight-weeks-old. So we take up kennel space that the city cannot spare. We can also be tricky to place in foster because it is a lot of responsibility to care for a mom and her babies for 8 weeks. In order to be able to take families in immediately while foster homes are being found, APA created a special space just for us! After being completed in July, the maternity ward so far has helped 11 dogs and their litters.

That is a lot of baby showers and lives to be saved, so APA could always use help providing families like us everything we need.

Baby’s First Needs:
1 cuddly blanket = $10
My first toy = $2
My winter sweater= $15
A chance to live my life = priceless
Mom eats canned and crunchy food. Her canned food costs $1 and she eats 3 times a day. When I get to be about 3 or 4 weeks old, I will get to eat canned food too. Mom plus 6 of us could mean $5-7 dollars a day!

When we grow up and are ready to go into a forever home, APA vaccinates, deworms, microchips, and spays and neuters us. The average cost providing care for an animal is $250, so my family will cost more than $1000. We are so appreciative of all that APA does for us!

What we can do is tell you our story and hold still for cute photos to be taken. We want everyone to know what great care APA has provided for us. APA saved our lives and we want to keep giving other animals the chance to have their lives saved too. We will continue to post updates about our lives as little puppies on the blog, and we hope you share our story to further continue the No Kill Journey.